Sail Away
by Crickett9
Summary: Annabeth has a rough night, but it provides just what she needs. During/ right before The Lost Hero.


A/N: I haven't sat down to write for a while. And when I sat down, determined to write something, this is what came. It's not much- an hour's worth of time in front of my laptop. But I hope you guys like it. Annabeth and Percy are the property of Rick Riordan, and the song referred to is "Sail Away", by David Gray.

Annabeth sat on her bunk, tears streaming quietly down her cheeks. Anyone could see the girl was a mess with a single glance. Her curly blonde hair was falling out of its ponytail, the grey streak near her left temple covering nearly the whole left half of her face. Her cheeks were stained with dirt and tears, and her head was drooped in a fashion that Athena would never approve of.

But Annabeth didn't care. There was only one person who could kiss away her tears and he was gods-only-know where, most likely with no memory of her whatsoever. She wanted to sob and scream at the same time, but she would never consider actually emitting a sound. Her cabin mates, the other campers, her friends, they all looked up to her not only for her wisdom, but for her strength. They couldn't see her crumble. She wouldn't allow it.

She glanced at her watch. It was almost 2 AM, but Annabeth couldn't stand the thought of sleep. The dreams that had been haunting her had become too much, and she started relying on coffee to get her through each day. She dug her iPod out of her bag and absentmindedly scrolled through the music. Finally, too tired to make a decision, she set it on shuffle, grabbed her headphones, and tried to relax against her pillow. She attempted to let the music drown out her thoughts.

_Sail away with me, honey_

_I put my heart in your hand_

It was too much. She had heard the song a few times, when listening to the playlist that… he gave her a few weeks ago. She loved the rough voice contrasting with the smoother chords, but had never paid much attention to the lyrics. She quickly skipped the song.

Two hours and many songs later, Annabeth was no closer to sleep. She tossed and turned, clinging to an old shirt of his, trying to coax the long –worn- out sea scent magically back.

Suddenly she was furious. How could he do this to her? How could he leave her with no explanation, no clue, nothing? She hurriedly shoved her feet into a pair of flip flops, grabbed a hoodie and a brown envelope from under her bed, and headed out.

Down at the beach, the waves calmed her. But the sound also pained her. It brought back so many memories of stolen moments down here with him. She could almost feel his arms around her, feel the warm tingle of his voice against her ear. Taking a deep breath, she slowly slid her hand into the envelope and pulled out the stack of pictures. They had arrived the day after he went missing, obviously mailed before this all happened. She glanced at the small pink sticky note stuck to the top picture.

_Annabeth-_

_Here are a few snapshots Paul and I managed to catch this past weekend. We loved having you with us at Montauk and hope we can all do it again sometime soon!_

_ Love,_

_ Sally_

The top shot was the two of them sitting on the small dock, hands intertwined and smiling. The next few were of them in the water. In the canoe, splashing each other playfully, throwing a ball back and forth. They were both smiling in all the shots, even if they didn't know that a picture was being taken.

Tears pricked at Annabeth's eyes as she flipped through the rest of the pictures, finally coming upon the last shot and almost completely losing it. They were on the beach at night, in front of a blazing fire. She sat in his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Just as the flash went off, he leaned in and kissed her cheek. The shot captured his grin against her cheek, and her blissful smile at such a normal interaction between them. Normal, but it still produced fireworks.

She clutched the picture against her chest, wrapped her hoodie around her. The anger had drained out of her, and she just felt empty. Empty except for a huge dark weight within her chest.

She gazed up at the stars and lay back on the sand. She picked up the discarded iPod next to her and searched through her library until she found the song that she had skipped earlier. This time, though, she put all her focus into the lyrics, instead of trying to erase her thoughts.

_Crazy skies are wild above me now_

_Winter howling at my face_

_And everything I held so dear_

_Disappeared without a trace_

_Through all the times I tasted love_

_Never knew quite what I had_

_Little darling, if you hear me now_

_Never needed you so bad_

The sadness dulled, the emptiness slowly started to fade, replaced with dogged determination.

_I'm coming, Percy._


End file.
